General Notes, 
A Hybrid Tanager. — While in Omaha last fall for a few hours I called 
on Mr. Leonard Skow who called my attention to a Tanager in his collec- 
tion that did not fit the keys. On my return to Washington I arranged 
to have the bird sent on for examination, and Mr. Ridgway pronounces 
it an unmistakable case of hybridism between Pyra?iga rubra and P 
erythromelas — 'the first known instance of this phenomenon in the genus. 
The bird is a male. Its bill is rather thicker than in P. erythromelas , 
but not so long as in P. rubra , with the median notch of the upper man- 
dible well developed. The wings are rusty black, the primaries are edged 
with red on the outer web, while the secondaries and coverts are washed 
with brick red, giving the whole wing the appearance of having been 
brushed over with a water color of reddish yellow. The tail is marked in 
the same manner, but with more of the appearance of having been dipped 
in the red stain, as the whole web of each feather is tinged more deeply 
on the outer than on the inner weh and at the base than at the tip. The 
body has the scarlet color of P. erythromelas , with no trace of the Ver- 
million of P. rubra , though there is a little of the bronze of immaturity 
on the nape of the neck and on the belly. In a series of about thirty 
specimens of P. erythromelas there is no trace of the reddish wash on 
the black — though several show red feathers among the black coverts. 
The characters of P. erythromelas are the stronger on the whole, as 
might be expected, as it seems the hardier bird of the two. 
Measuiements show that it is intermediate in size between the two 
species. I give a few (in inches), with those of Ridgway’s ‘Manual’ for 
comparison. 
Wing 
Tail 
2.85 
2.80- 3.15 (2.99) 
2.80- 3.25 
Culmen 
.60 
.82-.90 (.86) 
■55--6o 
Hybrid 
P. rubra 
P. erythromelas 
3-90 
3-S5-3-9S (3 69 ) 
3-55-3-9° 
The specimen is nowin the collection of the U. S. National Museum 
— L. M. McCormick, Washington, D. C. 
Auk X, July, 1893 p. 302-303. 
Plumasre of some birds from upper 
SaCfalfoI'na - Lsverefct M. Loomis. 
Piranga rubra. — The following description is of a female, 
with ovary of a breeding bird, taken June 2, 1879. Prevailing 
color above brownish gray, with touches of olive-yellowish ; 
under surface cream-color, washed with Naples yellow, with a 
patch of chrome yellow on breast. Three males and a female 
of subspecies cooperi in the American Museum resemble this 
{specimen in their faded appearance. 
Auk X, April, 1893. p.154. 
First Plumage of the Summer Tanager ( Piranga rubra'',. — Under- 
parts whitish-buff, heavily streaked on breast with dusky; throat and abdo- 
men with lighter and more linear streaks of the same. Under tail-coverts 
reddish-buff with dark streaks. Head and upper parts dark brownish buff 
thickly spotted and streaked with dusky. Wings showing traces of dull 
red and green on primaries and secondaries. The first and second wing- 
coverts tipped and edged with buff, forming two distinct wing-bars. 
The bird (No. 2084, $ , Coll. C. W. Beckham), from which the above de- 
scription is taken, was shot at Bardstown, Kentucky, on June 21, and was 
attended by both parents. 
The call-note of the young Tanager is very different from any note of 
the adult birds. It is very full and sonorous and faintly suggestive of the 
Bluebird’s ordinary whistle. — Charles Wickliff Becki-iam, Bardstown, 
Ky. J Attk, 3, Oct., 1880. p. y£7' 
Young Oologist. 1541* Summer Red-bird. By T. D. Perry. Ibid., p. 1 17- -A.uk, Vll. Ja.n.l 8 £> 0 . p. $r* 2 . 
